What do I do if my ferrets only eat cat food?

Question

I just bought two ferrets yesterday from some people. They said they fed them cat food along with vitamin supplements, but I've read from multiple sources that ferrets should NOT be fed cat food because they have different digestive systems. I bought them ferret food, but they won't even eat it. What's the best way to wean them off cat food? Is it okay for them to eat cat food? Any help ASAP would help.

Answer 1

Standard cat food from the grocery store--no. But the specialty cat foods from pet supply places can be used to a certain degree. Evo is 50% protein and is a good mix to add in. You need at least a 35% protein level to have it be useable as a food, they have high protein requirements.

Join up with a few ferret groups online, you can ask what people feed their ferrets and see if any of the brands are in your area.

Some do feed whole foods like thawed pinkie mice and thawed whole adult mice (they're frozen for snake food usually, you can get them at the pet stores), and there's a 'duck soup' that is very nutritious that can be made at home for your ferrets, but you'd need a food grinder.

Answer 2

Cat food is not the right diet for a ferret. The best way is to wean them off the cat food over a few weeks. Start by mixing 1/4 ferret food and 3/4 cat food, keep this mix for a few days. After a few days change it to 1/2 and 1/2, then 3/4 ferret food and 1/4 cat food. Eventually it should just be ferret food.

Ideally they should be eating 3 different foods mixed together. Ferrets are sometimes picky(as you see). With three different high quality foods mixed together(Zupreme, totally ferret, etc) you do not risk having them refuse to eat because your store stops selling the brand they eat.

Answer 3

Switching a ferrets food is never an easy feet, especially if the ferret was only ever fed one type of food. Find out (if you don't already know) what food they were feeding the ferret. Buy a bag of that and slowly start adding the new ferret food. Keep decreasing the amount of cat food and increasing the amount of ferret food daily until the only food in your ferrets bowl is the ferret food.

After this I would recommend that you start experimenting with different foods. I happen to like 8in1 ultimate, ZuPreem, and Evo for ferrets. All three of these foods are 'complete'. You can end up with your own 'special mix' in the end.

Here are some good sites you may like. It never hurts to keep on learning.

http://www.ferretsr1.org
http://www.ferretuniverse.com

Answer 4

Canned cat food- not really. They are usually 75% moisture, meaning only 25% of good nutrients in the can. therefore, it would need to eat 4 cans of food for every one cup of normal food. Canned and dry food is generally in the same proportions with dry ingredients, but canned is just a lot more water. There is debate about whether you should feed cat or ferret dry food, and Evo is a good brand (cat or ferret food is basically the same), that has no fillers. Zupreem also makes a good ferret food. What you want to look for is high protein levels with low carbs- over 40% protein is good, and 20-25% fat. Most canned cat foods are only at 11% protein analysis, which means you would need to feed a lot more. ferret's aren't known for getting fat, so your ferret may end up too skinny on just canned food. Also, dry food helps keep their teeth healthy and clean- wet food doesn't, and many tests also show that a completely soft diet also means less muscle mass in the face, and lots more plaque on the teeth. A treat of canned food, or other meat based products, is perfectly fine.

Answer 5

Have you tried mixing in the new food with the old food or did you just get rid of all the old food and give them only the new food? Try mixing the old food with the new over about a two week period. Slowly add more of the new and less of the old until it's all the new food. If that doesn't work (or didn't work if you already tried it), then here's a few other things to try: One of the bags of food that I buy for my ferrets suggests grounding up the old food to a powder and then put that in a ziplock bag with some of the new food. The scent from their old food will get on their new food and will help make the new food more appealing to them. Other things it suggests: mix some of the old and new foods, then put in the microwave for 30 seconds to help disguise the new food scent; try spraying some chicken broth on the new food (if your ferret likes chicken broth, if not, ferretone would also work).

I also suggest giving your ferret a variety of foods. This way, if one goes off the market or you just don't like one anymore, you'll have back-ups that they already like and you won't have to go through the food changing process again. Besides, variety is good - who wants to get stuck eating the same thing every day of their life.

Is it ok for them to eat cat food? - It's not going to kill them (unless the food is REALLY bad), but I'm a big believer in leaving the cat food for the cats and giving ferrets ferret food. If it's a good, high quality cat food, it can be ok, but I'd work on finding a good ferret food that they like. Cats and ferrets have a lot in common, but they still have different needs and I think a good ferret food is better for them. Some good ferret foods on the market - ZuPreem Premium, 8in1 Ultimate Crunchy, Innova Evo Ferret, and Wysong Archetype I (very expensive though).

Answer 6

go to the vets and ask them for advice